Govt U-turn on Newbury road

The Government has started back-peddling on its controversial decision to postpone the A34 Newbury bypass according to a local Liberal Democrat MP.

Only two weeks ago, the Highways Agency said 'there will be no additional capacity through Newbury before 2003', but in a second, more recent, letter written by the Agency it insists that 'there is no basis for any assumption that the existing scheme will not survive'.

Newbury MP, David Rendel, who is leading the campaign to get the scheme reinstated, said: 'The Government seems to be wavering, thanks to the pressure we are bringing to bear.'

Rendel claims Transport Secretary Brian Mawhinney postponed the construction of the project following a flying visit he made in November.

He says Lawrie Haynes, chief executive of the Agency, and Mawhinney arrived in Newbury at 11.30am and were gone by 2.45pm. They did not consult anybody locally. Mawhinney has never explained the grounds for his reversal of policy.

Mawhinney's U-turn has so infuriated locals that a Newbury Bypass Forum has been formed.